Do it right
by introvertedlover2
Summary: "Besides,"- she gave him a bashful look tinted in mischief- "If you ask Juvia out then you'd have to do it right. Having your friends and family watch you from bad hiding places isn't exactly the right way to ask a girl, Gray-sama." Main pair Gruvia, with mentions of Nalu, Jerza, and Gajevy/Gale. Credits to the artist who drew the cover!


\--

The night was young. Shots and all kinds of alcoholic beverages were being passed around joyfully and kindly refilled by Mira whenever they seemed to be running low. They knew there'd be a hell of a bill once the night was done but none seemed to care at the moment, for tonight was a night of celebration. It was the the night right after their unholy university exams. Days of having information force-fed down their throats- (in hopes that It'd make it into their brains)- by overbearing professors and fatiguing nights of coffee and even more coffee so that they'd stay conscious long enough to be able to study said force fed lessons, had ended. Finally, it was over and they could rejoice.

"NYAHAHA, I DID IT! I, NATSU DRAGNEEL, HAVE PASSED MY UNI EXAMS!!!" Natsu was currently raising two bottles of liquor in the air while he had one foot on his chair and the other on top of the table so everyone could hear his celebratory yell.

The patrons of the Fairy Tail Bar-already used to Natsu's shenanigans- gave their own whoops of celebration and clapped for the grinning pink haired man.

It was then that a hand decorated in black and metal rings reached out, grabbed said man by the back of his jacket, and harshly pulled him back down into his seat.

"You do realize you haven't passed anything yet, salamander?" Gajeel had his arms crossed over his chest while he looked condescendingly at Natsu, wondering why he was even sitting next to him.

"Oh, shove off metal freak! I know I passed- I asked Lucy to study with me! There's no way I'd fail now." Natsu leaned back with his arms behind his head and placed his feet on the table as he proclaimed this. Gray promptly shoved them off. He grinned mockingly at the pouting man in front of him. "Look guys, it seems Natsu _**doe****s**_ know how to hit on a girl." Gajeel and an unusually inebriated jellal laughed at this.

A shade of pink befitting his hair color- uncaused by their unhealthy alcohol consumption- bloomed on the young man's face.

"And what would you know about any of that?! You can't even admit your own feelings, 'Gray-sama~'!" Natsu's impersonation of the one and only Juvia Lockser triggered a dark blush on the scowling mans face.

"Don't point fingers at me! What about Mr. 'I'm just her best friend' over here?" He said while elbowing his tattooed- and now stuttering- friend.

Jellal, knowing his face was probably as red as the hair of the woman that harbored his romantic attention- not that she knew it- quickly passed the subject onto the last victim of the night.

Jellal childishly pointed at Gajeel from across the table with all intents to shed light onto the latter's love life. Gajeel stopped laughing and his eyes grew wide as he realized his mistake of not escaping while he could and prepared for the inevitable attack on him and his shrimp.

"W-w-well what about him and Levy!! It's obvious they have something going on!"

They continued like this for about a half hour, throwing jabs and insults at each other concerning their respective love lives until the sudden slam of a fisted hand on their table stopped them in their tracks.

Mirajane smoothly pulled her hand back to her side and gave the arguing men a motherly smile

"Sorry boys, it's really hard to get your attention when you're fighting." Mira laughed at the sheepish smiles the group in front of her gave as an apology. Then her smile grew slightly devilish. "So, I couldn't help but overhear your discussion...and I think I have a solution."

The guys looked at her in confusion.

"What kind of solution?" Gray asked with skepticism.

"Well in order for you all to stop making fun of each other for not doing anything about your obvious feelings, you should just **_do_** something about them, right?"

"But mira," jellal said defeatedly "We're not exactly-"

"-brave enough to confront your women? yes, i know."

Yells of 'Hey!!' and a 'Thats not what i was going to say Mira!!' came out of the flustered men's mouths.

"Of course not jellal, sorry for the misinterpretation." But from the slight lift of her lips and the humor dancing in her eyes, you knew she wasn't sorry at all.

"So as i was saying, you guys just need to do something about your feelings... like ask your girl out-" Four pairs of eyes widened at this but Mira went on before they could interrupt. "-and since you guys just said you're not scared of confronting your women and with that, your feelings, then this should be a piece of cake, right?" Mira smiled wickedly, her plan having played out perfectly and the guys were now backed into a corner they couldn't escape from. At least one of them will have to face the music after tonight, and really, just one is enough to get the other three on their way.

Each of them stared at her in horror, all of them knowing there was no way out of this. Because they all have this one thing called _p__ride_, and to hell with anything and anyone that tries to topple that. Including their own fears.

Jellal, having retained some of his sobriety back from their little chat, got himself together enough to answer her first. "Yeah... of course Mira... Let's do this, right guys?" he turned his pained gaze towards his companions who all gulped and nodded back resolutely.

Mira clasped her hands together and gave an award winning smile. "Perfect! Now, i don't think its good to have you all ask your girls out on the same day, it has to be a special day only one of you future couples should share!" Mira leaned into the table and used one hand to cover a side of her mouth as she added in a whisper, _'And it steals your thunder, you know?'_ Mira winked, absolutely giddy, and jumped back to her previous position in front of their table to continue her explanation, without a care to the men she kept reducing to embarrassed teenagers.

But the aforementioned embarrassed teenagers suddenly brightened when they realized they might have a chance to get out of this mess and eagerly asked Mira how they'd pick the unlucky fool- um sorry, the lucky guy.

Mira tapped a finger on her chin, pretending to think for second- as if she hadn't had this all thought out before hand- and then grabbed one of the discared bottles on the floor and placed it on the middle of the table on it's side.

"Im sure you all know the game spin the bottle right? Well it's like that, sans the unwanted kiss. I'll spin the bottle- to make sure none of you tamper with it- and who ever it lands on has to ask out the woman they love! Now, lets start!" And so Mira reached over the table and spun the bottle before any questions could be asked about her brilliant plan. The guys were subjected to watching their fate spin and spin on the table, counting their blessings every time it went past them.

_Natsu_

.

_Gray_

.

_Jellal_

.

_Gajeel__.._

.

The bottle started spinning slower...

.

_Natsu_

.

_Gray_

.

_Jellal_

.

_Gajeel_

.

_Natsu..._

Everyone held their breath as the bottle was finally coming to its last turn.

**_...Gray..._**

\--

And that was how Gray ended up ringing the doorbell on Juvia Locksers apartment door with a pink rain lily and a yellow daffodil in hand at the crack of dawn. And with all his friends and family hiding using various things of course- (as if they'd ever miss the moment they've all been expecting for **_years_** now)-, like Juvias well taken care of flowers and plants- _'__damn juvia has a lot of flowers, are these two good enough??'-_, some rocks- _"_dad, ur! i can still see you guys!!_"_, the nearby fish pond -_ 'fish pond?!', "Get the hell out of there guys!"-,_ and the few surrounding trees available. There were people hiding behind the trunks and even.. _'__holy shit, even on_ _the_ _fucking **branches** god dammit?! what was he- a __walking reality TV show??__'_

As Gray made to tell his audience to kindly fuck off, the door of the apartment bell he had rung opened. When he turned to see the woman opening the door, he promptly forgot about anyone in this world except for him and Juvia Lockser.

His mouth went dry as he slowly looked her up and down. She wore black short shorts that hugged her curvaceous hips and ass- _fuck, look at her hips, that ass!.. But damn those long, creamy white legs are my favorite-, _a loose blue tank top that still didnt stop him from enjoying the generous view of her breasts, not helped by the way her hair was up in a ponytail that let him see her chest without any obstruction, or by the thin strap slowly sliding down her shoulder that was gradually exposing more and more of her-_ 'holy shit she's not wearing a bra!'-_but what really killed him was that **_for__ once_ _in his life, _**Juvia actually wasn't trying to seduce him. She was using one hand to keep the door open and the other to rub her eyes from sleep. Then she yawned and Gray could've sworn it was the cutest thing he'd ever heard and willed his mind to focus on that instead of her current attire.

_'Get your mind out of the gutter Gray__! of course she's not even dressed! The sun just came up and it's the weekend! How the hell did Natsu and the guys even get everyone here in time? I purposely tried to do this early, hoping they'd all have horrible hangovers and not have time to follow me, but not only did they show up, they also invited everyone that fucking knows me! I wouldn't be doing this anyway if it wasn't for them arguing about our girls; not that juvia is my girl. Why does everyone think that? Sure, she's really hot. And loving... and amazing, and understanding, generous, kind, she's- dammit i may just like her- and she's always trying her best for me, she makes me smile, she- oh fuck it. I think i might lo-_'

"Gray-sama! what are you doing here this early in the morning? Does Gray-sama need help with something? Did Juvia forget the whole group was supposed to hangout today? Or maybe something happened with-" A pink rain lily and a yellow daffodil being shoved in her face stopped her in her tracks.

"Gray-sama?.." asked juvia confusedly

Gray couldn't bring himself to answer. His heart was beating a mile a minute, his palms were sweaty, his breath came in silent and short, yet strong puffs oh air. _'W__hy was he doing this? I'm not ready to tell her my feelings yet! I barely just figured some of them out today! I-I can't-__'_

"Would you all leave Gray-sama alone!!"

Now that got him going. He snapped out of his trance only to notice that the confused girl infront of him was gone. He turned around and found a blue haired woman standing behind him with her hands on her hips and a glare that could drown someone without remorse.

"Juvia knows you're all making Gray do this! you all should be ashamed of yourselves! It's not right to force Gray to do things he's clearly not comfortable doing!-" Gray's and everyone else's eyes widened at that sentence. She's must be serious to have forgotten to call Gray with her preferred honorific.

"- If juvia **_ever _**finds out that you've all forced Gray into something he doesn't want to do again, then Juvia will personally take care of you, no matter who or what you may be to her or Gray. **_Leave._**" But people were already jumping out of tree branches and swiming their way to safety and running away, from shame or fear of Juvia's wrath- is unknown. How did she know they were there? Another thing left unknown, and frankly neither mattered to Gray. He was too busy staring in awe at the woman infront of him.

When the last of their audience was gone, Juvia sighed and dropped her tempest glare and her hands from her hips as she turned with a smile towards him.

"Sorry for that Gray-sama, it must've been horrible to go through all that. I know you don't like people pushing you out of your comfort zone- That's why Juvia always shows you her affection and doesn't expect anything back..she know's how you are._" _She giggled and he couldn't help but smile and laugh with her. The affection comment didn't even bother him at this point, cause it was true. He learned to accept her feelings a long time ago and while Juvia is sometimes a little over bearing with her affections towards him, she's never forced him into anything- try to convince him, that she has tried, but she won't pass his boundaries once he says he doesn't like or want something._ 'But__ with todays newest revelation,'_ He thought, '_I think I'd be more open to loosening those boundaries...just a bit for now...' _He blushed at his thought.

"Don't worry about it Juvia. Thanks for helping me out, that was kinda painful- not to say that asking you out would be painful! I just never pictured it going like that- um not that I've thought about us- I mean I've thought of us but not like marrying you! not that that would be bad! I'd love to marry you! Holy shit why am i- Sorry i just- i- i mean-" Juvia saved him for the second time that day by putting her hand over his mouth.

She smiled gently and gave him a meaningful look he couldn't decipher.

"I know Gray-sama.. I know." and then her look was gone and so was her hand from his mouth.

"I know Gray-sama might still be figuring out his feelings and that he's not ready for anything of this sort yet." She gestured to his hand and he blinked before looking down and realizing he had been holding the flowers this whole time.

He looked back up as a flash of blue walked past him and towards the open apartment door. Juvia already had her hand on the doorknob to close it when she said "Besides," she gave him a bashful look tinted in mischief. "If you ask Juvia out then you'd have to do it right. Having your friends and family watch you from bad hiding places isn't exactly the right way to ask a girl, Gray-sama." Now her gaze was all mischief as Gray blushed and sputtered under the watch of her ocean eyes.

"Well, have a good day, Gray-sama!" She had almost closed her door, but a hand quickly stopped it before she could fully close it.

Said hand gently pried the door back open as the other galantly presented the forgotten pair of flowers to the surprised blunette.

Gray smiled sheepishly and once juvia grabbed the flowers he used that hand to awkwardly rub the back of his neck. "You know, i actually do need some help with a class..." He blushed and turned to look at the door beside him instead of her. Juvia blushed as well and smiled before announcing she'd go make some tea.

As Gray closed the door behind him and made his way to her couch, his eyes never left the happily skipping form of Juvia Lockser. A smile slowly formed on his face as she slightly danced to a tune she hummed while pouring tea into two cups.

_"__Don't worry, Juvia."_\- He whispered-_"When I finally ask you out, I'll do it right. You deserve that." _Juvia smiled while carefully making her way towards him and then sat down after setting the two cups on the coffe table in front of them.

"Sorry Gray-sama, did you say something?"

"Oh! um, yeah. I was wondering if you understood the recent math lesson we learned, i was honestly so confused-"

And they went on like that, pretending that they hadn't just finished their finals and had no new lessons.

\--

**Apparently, daffodils signify and mean (among other things), '_unrequited__ love, you're the only one,'_ and lastly, 'The sun is always shining when you're around.' And the rain lily was meant to represent Juvia. Having Gray present these specific flowers to her was a way to represent Juvia and Juvia's obvious feelings towards him but say that no, they are not together yet, but Gray is beggining to change. He's gonna try harder for her now. Dunno if that makes sense or not but oh well it makes sense in my mind , i hope my one-shot isn't riddled with too many grammatical mistakes and i hope you enjoyed it even though they didn't really end up together in the end! bye~~~**


End file.
